The Clark College Softball Team played a double-header scrimmage Sunday, March 9 against the Blue Mountain Community College (BMCC) Timberwolves. The ladies lost both of the scrimmages, by the scores of 8-0 and 5-4, respectively. Those loses were nothing compared to the loss suffered Monday, March 3, when Joy Varney, a secretary in the athletic department, passed away.

    Varney had been at Clark for six years, and had helped considerably with the running of the softball program at Clark College.

    Head Coach Kasey Powers said, “I know my sophomores are pretty torn up about it because she’s done so much for the program—for the whole athletic department… she cared about these kids.” Ms. Varney may have only been at Clark for six years, but her legacy here will be a lasting one. Powers said, “The ones that came in as freshman… she cared about them from the moment they walked in the door, and she took care of them. I mean, she was awesome, so it tore them up... We’re going to miss her.”

    Coach Powers also added that the team had not practiced Wednesday or Thursday because the girls were having such a tough time with the loss of Varney.

    So, coming into Sunday’s scrimmages, the team was carrying the emotional burden of losing a member of their softball family.

    During the first game of the double-header, Clark struggled a bit on offense and was unable to produce any runs. BMCC didn’t struggle much at all on offense, and was able to record an eight-run game, including a 7-run seventh inning. Clark’s defense and pitching had looked pretty solid up to that point, but the arm of starting pitcher Catherine Martinez started looking tired, which gave BMCC the break they needed to strengthen their lead from only one run to eight. The surge of runs by the Timberwolves included a 2-run inside-the-park home run and a triple that brought one run to the plate.

    The second game of the double-header went much better for Clark. The Penguins scored four runs in the bottom half of the third inning, including an RBI triple by freshman infielder Brooklyne Freeman.

    Clark’s starting pitcher for the second game, sophomore Bailee Mayer, threw 4 shut-out innings, allowing two hits, walking one, and striking out three. Mayer also got some good defensive help to back her up. Natalie Deotsch, a freshman outfielder from La Center High School, made a nice sliding catch in the top of the fourth inning.

    However, at the start of the fifth inning, after Mayer was taken out of the game, BMCC took control. The lead-off batter for BMCC, Kyni Wofford, hit a solo home run, swinging momentum toward the side of BMCC.

    In the top of the sixth inning, the Timberwolves offense started off strong again, with each of their first seven batters reaching bases safely. Wofford came up big again for BMCC when she hit a triple to left field with the bases loaded. Wofford would later score, putting her team up by one run, which was the difference in the game.

    Despite losing both of these games, Powers is remaining optimistic about the rest of the season, saying, “I’m actually really happy with today, I mean, I have one kid home, sick with mono… my other catcher needed to have oral surgery on her wisdom teeth, I had two other kids sick today, and we played pretty well. I was pretty happy with how we got through stuff today… I’m excited about the rest of the year… we’re just going to keep building, we’re just going to keep getting better.”

    With the coach having such a positive outlook towards the rest of the season, this team should be in for a good year. The freshman should become more comfortable as the season progresses, and the sophomore leadership will likely step up and carry the team through the season.

    Clark Softball starts its regular season on March 21 at Green River, and the first games in the Vancouver area will be in the Clark College Round Robin Tournament, which will be held March 29 and 30. The location of the tournament has not been determined yet, but should be announced soon. If you’re a softball fan, be sure to check when the location is announced and get out there to cheer on the team as they look to improve on last year’s season.